


Patterns of Free Will

by Im_The_Doctor (Bofur1)



Category: Video Blogging RPF, Youtube RPF
Genre: Anger, Angst and Feels, Arguing, Caring, Coercion, Confrontations, Desperation, Explanations, False Accusations, Grief/Mourning, Multiple Selves, Surprises, Survivor Guilt, Threats, Threats of Violence, Tragedy, interruptions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-27
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2019-04-28 17:18:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14454072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bofur1/pseuds/Im_The_Doctor
Summary: “Bring him back. I know you can, Jack. You can do anything for us—tous—and you can bring him back. So youdo it.”Based on this prompt:"I wonder if the other egos at this point have progressed to grieving for Schneep, wanting to hold on for his sake but with every passing day, recognizing the chances of Schneep being returned to them are slimmer and slimmer. And this grief manifests itself as anger—at each other, at themselves—at Jack. Some of the egos, like Chase, angry-cry. So does Robbie. Jackie, JJ—they bury themselves in their work. Marvin? He lashes out...at Jack."





	Patterns of Free Will

“Bring him back.”

Jack blinked a few times, eyes creasing with unease and concern at the corners as he stared at the Ego in front of him, who had just interrupted the recording of his latest Let’s Play. “Marvin—”

“Bring him back,” the magician ground out again, hands clenched testily at his sides. He looked like a nightmare, clothing rumpled, hair tousled, face sickly pale aside from the bruise-like circles under his eyes. “I know you can, Jack. You can do anything for us— _to_  us—and you can bring him back. So you  _do it_.”

Sitting up straighter in his chair, keenly aware of the rolling camera just behind him, Jack held out a placating hand and tried to keep his voice even. “I don’t know how yet, Marv,” he explained. “Robin and I are still—”

“Still  _what?_  Still working on it?! Still taking a break?! Still unable to be bothered?! Tell me!” Marvin barked, batting Jack’s outstretched hand away as he surged closer. “Do you…do you even know where he is? Do you have any idea what’s happening to him? Do you know what Anti’s  _doing_  to him? You’re his creator. You’re supposed to know him best, aren’t you? So where is he?!”

“I don’t—”

“You don’t  _care!_  How could you let it go on this long? How could you let him suffer?! He risked his life to save you and now you won’t do the same! You’d rather just let Anti hurt him,  _torture_  him, just to get a rise out of your fans!” Hissing angrily through his teeth, Marvin glanced away for a moment, swiping the back of his hand furiously over his eyes and knocking his mask askew. “You—you don’t know how much he  _adored_  you. He loved you more than any of us. He  _trusted_  you; he was there for you when no one else was! And you’d repay him by throwing him to Anti?!”

With every word, Jack felt his heart sinking further into his stomach, twisting uncomfortably. “What…? What’re you talking about, Marv? I didn’t  _throw_  him to Anti. I was hurt, I was…”

“Shut up! You—” Marvin paused, shaking his head and laughing humorlessly. “Y’know what, I’m beginning to see a  _pattern_  here! Your fans have their little theories, don’t they? Well, here’s mine: you don’t care about us nearly as much as we care about you. You let Jameson be possessed in his very first video. Chase— _you_  wrote his backstory, you took his children, brought his whole world down around him without a second thought. You let Schneep be taken. You let Jackieboy stay on his own, helpless and lonely, for  _years_  before creating me—and when you did, you didn’t even give me a  _name_.” When he glanced back at his creator, there was nothing short of disgust on his face, which no mask could have hidden. “What kind of creator are you?”

Something tightened in Jack’s throat at that, something he rarely let himself feel. It was difficult to force words through it, but he did his best. “I had to give you all backstories…that were relatable. A lot of people in the world are lonely and ignored and have bad family lives, and…you were made to be people they could identify with. I wanted ’em to know that I understood.”

Marvin was silent for a moment or two and then he inhaled deeply, squaring his shoulders. “Then you should understand this.” With a brief flourish, one step and a warning whine of power, his wand was poised in the hollow of Jack’s throat. He met his creator’s wide eyes intently, letting him press against the back of his chair before he continued, low and grim. “You’re going to bring Schneep back. You make him whole again. You  _prove_  that you really do care about us. Give him…give him back to us. You do that and I’ll back off. If not…”

Jack’s breath hitched just slightly as the sharp end of the wand dug further into his skin, the magic humming through it both hot and cold at once. “Marvin…” he whispered, hoarser than he intended. “I don’t know how to bring him back.”

“You do! You  _have_  to!” Marvin snapped, desperation catching in his voice before he clenched his eyes tightly shut and flicked the tip of his wand up, hooking it under Jack’s chin. “You control what happens to us! You made us; you made this world for us! You should be able to change it!”

“…I can’t control Anti.”

“You  _have_  to!” he pleaded again, already starting to shake. “You—you made him a-and you made Schneep; they’re both yours—”

“But they became real, Marv, just like you have,” Jack explained, moving his hands from the arms of his chair to wrap around the magician’s, drawing a panicked gasp from him. He didn’t try to move the weapon away from his throat; instead he guided it closer, trying to make a point.

“You all have free will. Look at  _yourself_  right now! Y’think if I could control you, I’d have you pointin’ this at me right now? I could drain all your power an’ throw you out of here without a second thought if that’s how it worked, but it’s not! It takes  _time_  and  _planning_  and I haven’t done enough yet! I can’t save Schneeplestein, I can’t stop Anti from hurting him on a whim. And…” He hesitated, glancing down a little without dipping his head as he sensed how Marvin’s hand was shaking. “…I can’t stop you from hurting me if you want to. That’s your choice.”

As Marvin processed these words, Jack felt as if the world had fallen away, as if it was just the two of them clinging to this one teetering moment on the edge of a very long fall. At last Marvin sagged, his hand slipping away from Jack’s and falling to his side. The wand landed on the floor with a clatter, its wielder following close behind, and Jack could only watch despairingly as Marvin curled into himself, laid his forehead against the floor and wept bitterly at his creator’s feet.


End file.
